Vendors Look to Cut Complexity of Data Security

A group of vendors led by Imperva are teaming up to help customers create a more effective framework for security and compliance.

Dubbed Imperva OpenSphere, the effort will allow enterprises to deploy Impervas SecureSphere technology together with pre-integrated third-party products, content and information feeds, delivery platforms, and best practices. The first members of OpenSphere are Crossbeam Systems in Boxborough, Mass., Ounce Labs in Waltham, Mass., and SenSage, located in San Francisco, said officials at Imperva.

Resource Library:

"We see enterprises struggling with disparate data governance and protection solutions that operate independently or have a closed, proprietary design that forces the burden of interoperability onto the customer," said Shlomo Kramer, president and CEO of Imperva. "This is clearly not an efficient or effective approach to keeping up with the changing landscape of data protection and governance."

According to a report from Stamford, Conn. research firm Gartner entitled "Organizations Must Employ Effective Data Security Strategies", securing data means enterprises have to use a variety of tools, some of which are not even pure security products.

"Many organizations struggle with taking a comprehensive approach to data security, understanding how to use and position products under various circumstances, and the role of data security in an overall security program," the report reads.

Impervas Kramer adds that, "the number of solutions deployed by the typical enterprise is increasing as the threat and regulatory landscape changes, leading to complexity and inefficiency if these solutions dont work together. With OpenSphere, we want to help enterprises tie together data security technologies to reduce the complexity of managing security, audit and compliance operations."

To that end, partners will be able to input content such as best practice templates and vulnerability data into SecureSphere, and take audit logs, assessment data and other information from SecureSphere and enter it into partner products. In addition, the partnership assures compatibility with all the hardware and software SecureSphere supports, including Oracle, Microsoft and IBM databases.

Kramer said that the groups strategy is to work with partners to make sure the interfaces and integration needed for their specific situation works for our joint customers.

"For some, we have completed this work and have customers in deployment—Crossbeam and SenSage, for example. For others, we are in an earlier stage and we are working together with joint prospects on the relevant interoperation—Ounce Labs, for example," Kramer said.

Check out eWEEK.coms Security Center for the latest security news, reviews and analysis. And for insights on security coverage around the Web, take a look at eWEEKs Security Watch blog.